Sterling Heights

Rings stolen in jewelry store robberies

By Eric Czarnik
C & G Staff Writer

According to police, this pair is suspected of participating in a robbery at a Dominic’s Fine Jewelry in Sterling Heights Jan. 6.

Photo provided by the Sterling Heights Police Department

According to police, this pair is suspected of participating in a robbery at a Dominic’s Fine Jewelry in Sterling Heights Jan. 6.

Photo provided by the Sterling Heights Police Department

These two men are suspected of being behind a Jan. 8 robbery at a Zales jewelry store inside Lakeside Mall.

Sterling Heights police are on the lookout for suspects in a pair of January jewelry store robberies.

In the first case, police said, a white-gold-and-diamond engagement ring set was reportedly stolen from Dominic’s Fine Jewelry, located in the 13000 block of Lakeside Circle, at around 5:25 p.m. Jan. 6.

Police said two suspects, male and female, asked an employee to check out an engagement ring. The suspects reportedly rejected that ring and inquired about seeing another ring.

As the employee was reportedly getting a ring out of the display case, the male suspect allegedly snatched it out of the employee’s hand, and the suspects ran away. Police said the pair took off in a white vehicle.

The male suspect was described as a black man of medium build and height. He was wearing a black stocking cap and a light-colored jacket that had “R.I.P. POOBIE CBMRBM” written on the back of it. The other suspect is described as a black woman of medium height and build who was wearing a dark-colored, hooded jacket, blue jeans and knee-high black boots.

The other reported robbery occurred at the Zales Jewelry store at Lakeside Mall at around 8 p.m. Jan. 8, police said.

Two suspects reportedly walked into the shop and talked with employees. One of the suspects allegedly asked to see two diamond rings to compare them. When an employee was taking a ring out of the case, one of the suspects reportedly grabbed a ring out of the employee’s hand, and the pair fled with another diamond ring.

Police believe the suspects left the mall through the Macy’s department store.

In this incident, the first suspect is described as a black man, 6 feet 4 inches tall and around 275 pounds. He was described as wearing a black jogging suit with red trim and a black hat with a red bill, police said.

The other suspect is described as a black man, 5 feet 10 inches tall and around 175 pounds. He reportedly wore a gray fleece jacket with black shoulders and blue jeans. He also allegedly had a short-cropped hairstyle.

Sterling Heights Police Lt. Luke Riley said no weapon was used in either robbery, but the accounts of jewelry being seized out of an employee’s hand in both incidents made them “strong armed” robberies.

“Because there’s physical contact, it’s a robbery and not just a larceny,” he said.

Visual surveillance footage of the incidents makes it apparent that the suspects involved in the two incidents are not the same, Riley said.

“We determined that it’s not the same person involved in both, but you can’t rule out that it’s not a group doing the same thing,” he said.

Riley said he did not know what “R.I.P. POOBIE CBMRBM” means apart from “rest in peace.”

Anyone who has more information about these incidents may contact the Sterling Heights Police Department at (586) 446-2800.